The tragic case of Riley Strain and the TikTok sleuths who tried to find him
At one point, a debit card on a river embankment was the only major clue in the disappearance of University of Missouri student Riley Strain – and it was discovered by two TikTokkers.
Two Nashville women, Brandy Baenen and Anna Clendening, were livestreaming their search efforts for their followers on the social media platform when they stumbled across the card near the Cumberland River in Tennessee.
Twenty-two-year-old Riley Strain, who was in Nashville with his college fraternity brothers, went missing on March 8 after being kicked out of a bar called Luke’s 32 Bridge. Authorities in Nashville scoured the surrounding area, including the river, for days but found nothing.
On March 22, his body was recovered from the Cumberland River in West Nashville, around eight miles from the downtown area, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department confirmed.
